MSc Phil Hist Sci

Philosophy of Biological and Cognitive Sciences

Tuesdays 12-1.30

Lecture Room, Dept of Philosophy, KCL

Matteo Mameli and David Papineau

Course Outline

The biological and cognitive sciences have given rise to a number of important conceptual problems, many of which have also important implications for the social sciences and for public policy. In this course, the following topics will be considered: the logic of evolutionary explanations, adaptations and adaptationism, innateness and development in biology and psychology, mind and brain, consciousness, folk-psychology and human mindreading, evolutionary theories of human behaviour and human culture, the modularity of mind, the methodology of evolutionary psychology, the nature of emotions.

Teaching

The main teaching for this course is the Core Seminar given every week by Matteo Mameli and David Papineau at King's College. The seminar takes place in David Papineau’s office in the KCL Philosophy Department on Tuesdays from noon to 1:30 (start date October 9th). Students taking this course are also strongly advised to attend Helena Cronin’s seminars in the Lent Term (every other Wednesdays from 14:00 till 16:00 in T206 starting in week 2 of the Lent term) and the intercollegiate MA Philosophy of Psychology lectures (every week on Mondays from 2:00 to 3:30). They may also find it useful to attend the intercollegiate MA Philosophy of Mind lectures (every week on Tuesdays from 6:00 to 7:30); for details see: http://www.kcl.ac.uk/kis/schools/hums/philosophy/pgtimetables/matt07.html

Reading list

Detailed reading lists are provided for each part of the course. The following is a list containing key texts and preliminary readings:
K Sterelny and P Griffiths, Sex and Death (University of Chicago Press); E Sober, Philosophy of Biology (Westview); R Dawkins, The Extended Phenotype (OUP); D Dennett, Darwin’s Dangerous Idea (Penguin); P Richerson and R Boyd, Not By Genes Alone (University of Chicago Press);
- D Sperber, Explaining Culture (Blackwell); K Laland and D Brown, Sense and Non-Sense (OUP); R Dunbar and S Barrett (eds.) Handbook of Evolutionary Psychology (OUP);  D Buller, Adapting Minds (MIT); J Barkow, L Cosmides, J Tooby, The Adapted Mind (OUP); J Fodor, The Mind Doesn’t Work That Way (MIT).